John Battelle blogs about a NY Post article reporting that YouTube could now fetch around $1 billion if it’s bought by a major company. According to the article, YouTube is less than a year old but has traffic of nearly 100 millions videos streaming a day.

Despite the popularity and success of the site, no major media company would want to buy it now and get faced with competitors suing over the copyrighted material. That’s the problem a lot of mainstream media have to get over. They have to realize that the success of YouTube comes from people attracted to the user-created content, like vodcasts. Be it a spoof of a singer or sharing the latest episode of a TV show, it’s all about re-creating and sharing of Web content.

“I personally believe YouTube proves that our culture wants desperately out of the traditional model of force fed television, and wants to move to a model where we participate in it - indeed, where we remix and share it.”

Podcasters often have problems with integrating music into their podcasts, worrying about the legal problems that they might face. The ability to remix and share content will allow independent content creators to have more freedom and creativity.

With August just around the corner and fall close behind, the sunny days of summer are coming to an end faster than I’d like.  But there is still a month of warm weather to make on-the-fly vacation plans or take a last-minute road trip. Americana is in full bloom during the summer–from Fenway and its franks and folk art festivals to blueberry pie and bluegrass.

Without too much planning, a quick weekend getaway can be easily done and if you’re looking for tips about what to do and see, I’ve discovered several podcasts that give you an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at what’s happening in Americana.

Whether it’s visiting Mike’s Pastries in Boston or escaping the city heat by touring New York’s Metropolitan, there are plenty of ways to tempt your taste buds, enjoy the night life, and relax on a Sunday afternoon.

Here are some podcasts to check out:

Boston Behind the Scenes
Ever wonder what makes a city tick? Join Adam Weiss for a look behind the scenes in Boston.

The Metropolitan Musem of Art Special Exhibition Podcast
The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s official podcast features exclusive commentary and programs relating to special exhibitions. The Museum’s exhibitions span the ages and represent cultures from every part of the world.

Trends Taste and Travel
Captain Cy Emerus is your Host for Trends, Taste and Travel.  Captain Cy is an actual airline captain who has spent the last 35 years taking travelers to exotic destinations the world over.

Talk Theatre in Chicago
A weekly podcast about Chicago’s theatre scene.

It seems that just when we were beginning to get comfortable with the idea of Web 2.0, we’re already on to a new Web experience, plus one. And that speaks to the mind of the short-term memory consumer in the age of information and technology. The term Web 3.0 has been kicked around as of late, but the idea has been gaining steam for quite some time. We’ve fast become individuals who seek a Web experience of personalization and content on-demand. When we’re online, we want our favorite sites to understand why we’re there and what we’re looking for.

The folks at PodTech.net Podcast often discuss the future of our fickle Web attention.

Or, if you’re still trying to figure out what Web 2.0 is all about, try The Web 2.0 Show. Chris and Josh interview folks from leading technology companies that are changing the way we see the Web.

I can’t say I’ve ever jumped from an airplane or scaled a mountain. I’ve never kite-surfed or base-jumped from the Eiffel Tower, releasing the parachute just moments before touchdown. My idea of rafting consists of floating in the deep end with a margarita. But I do love the adventurous spirit of those who reach great heights or jump from them, and I’ve discovered some podcasts chronicling these feats.

In The Rest of Everest podcast, we’re treated to “an almost unabridged expedition experience” courtesy of documentary filmmaker Jon Miller of TreeLine Productions in Colorado. “The Rest of Everest” follows 23-year-old climber Ben Clark as he follows his dream to become one of the youngest climbers ever to conquer Everest. From acclimatization to altitude sickness, the podcast lets you experience it all—on your desktop, iPod or wherever.

Beyond extreme mountain climbing, video and audio podcasts offer everything from mountain biking to surfing. Whether you would rather free fall in the comfort of your own home or want to learn more about skydiving before trying it out yourself, here are some more adventure-themed podcasts:

Skydive Radio
The very first podcast dedicated to skydiving

DiveFilm Podcast Video
Images and news of the ocean world. Featuring underwater video from around the world. Interviews with interesting people and footage of all kinds of marine life from great white sharks and humpback whales to tiny plankton and colorful coral reefs.

TrailTapes Mountain Biking Videos
Mountain bike blog featuring commentary video.

Hawaii Surf Session Report
A daily surf vodcast from Hawaii

Neilsen/NetRatings reported last week that nearly 9.2 million people — or 6.6% of the online population– have downloaded a podcast and nearly 5.6 million (or 4% of Web users) have downloaded a video podcast. The report seamlessly went on to characterize podcast listeners as the “podcasting population” and then proceeded to compare them with those that “publish blogs”.

This has prompted a lot of chatter and backlash on this report, and rightly so. The mainstream media continues to have difficulties connecting to today’s mainstream consumers that include both bloggers and podcasters, as well as those who read blogs and listen to or watch podcasts.

The report does reinforce the idea that interest in podcasts is growing well ahead of earlier forecasts. A February 2006 eMarketer study pegged the active podcast audience at about 3 million this year. Charlene Li of Forrester put the number around 700,000 in April.

The numbers are going in the right direction. Yet I’m waiting for the next study that I hope will have more value to advertisers and vendors. By comparing blog readers to podcasts audiences, there might be a clearer view of how far podcasting is penetrating mainstream consumers.

As Bostonians deal with the enormous hole in the ground—and headache—known as the Big Dig, smaller holes will be made in the earth across the pond this week.  The preeminent golfers of the world are now convening at the Royal Liverpool course at Hoylake, this year’s site for the oldest and most prestigious golf tournament, The Open. The British Open, as we Americans like to call it, has been the scene of amazing shots, incredible meltdowns and come-from-behinds for the ages.  This year’s contest—featuring the likes of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Colin Montgomerie—promises drama and all the fanfare of The Open, yet set on a course that hasn’t hosted the tournament since the late 60s.

Although Michelle Wie—the 14-year old phenom making waves on the LPGA and PGA tours—will not tee off this week at Royal Liverpool, she’s certainly the talk of sports podcasters out there. The FIX podcast takes up the debate on whether Michelle should be playing against the boys.

I did a quick search for golf on PodZinger and came up with quite a few items for those looking for interesting podcasts while waiting on the first tee.  For golfers looking for the basics—including tips for purchasing the right clubs to etiquette—try Golf for Beginners, or for those seeking to cure the slice with a bit of eastern culture, GolfingZen - The Podcast explores the mind of golfers and gives good tips for gaining focus and clarity on the course.

Joanne Colan, a former MTV Europe VJ from 2000-2004, is Rocketboom’s new host. From her LinkedIn profile, Joanne currently hosts the “Any Given Latitude” series on the Fine Living TV Network, with shows focusing on Iceland, Belize, Dominican Republic, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Puerto Rico, Croatia, Czech Republic, Austria, Portugal, and Curacao. Joanne is also fluent in French, and helped kick off MTV France as host of “MTV Crew,” MTV’s first live locally produced French show.

We welcome Joanne to Rocketboom and we look forward to providing search on their new episodes as well as their archive!

Joanne taking a dip in the Blue Lagoon, Iceland

Joanne in Belize

After the marathon game on Sunday in which our beloved Red Sox fell to the White Sox 6-5 in 19 grueling innings, we are definitely ready for the All-Star break and tonight’s game. The first half of the season has been tremendously exciting, complete with triple plays, walk-off home runs, milestone achievements and the continuing steroid controversy off the field. If you weren’t paying close attention, it was easy to miss something.

In my efforts to keep up with the game and any Red Sox details I may have missed, I’ve found a few podcasts to keep me up to speed. 360Pitch is an excellent source for news and information for everything baseball.

A podcast I listen to for Red Sox updates and a slightly irreverent look at the game is the Best Red Sox Podcast, featuring three guys from Connecticut; John Corn, Ron Gordon and Randy Flanagan. They are certainly a treat and I recommend them to all my Boston friends.

Another podcast I came across while searching PodZinger for baseball podcasts is Baseball Geeks. This one is for Fantasy Baseball enthusiasts with rumors, sleeper picks, overachievers and underachievers. If you are looking for a leg up in your league, this is the podcast for you.

So there are my favorite baseball podcasts. If you have any you listen to regularly, I would love to hear about them. We still have half a season to go, and I don’t want to miss anything.

PodZinger’s chairman and CEO, Alex Laats, is speaking tomorrow at Search Engines Strategies Latino, the premier event for Hispanic and Latin America markets. Moderated by Mike Grehan, founder and CEO, Smart Interactive, the panel, “Meet the Search Engines” will also feature speakers from Yahoo! Search and Search Marketing and Google Brazil.

As you may already know, PodZinger en Español allows users the ability to search the ever-expanding world of North American Spanish multimedia content. Soccer fans can search fútbol or mundial to relive World Cup highlights while political activists can engage in the immigration debate, as presented on the popular Frecuencia Norte podcast series.

In the upcoming months, Alex will also be speaking at Digital Hollywood’s Building Blocks Conference in San Jose in August and at the Podcast and Portable Media Conference in Ontario, California in September.

We were really surprised (and sad) to hear that Amanda has left Rocketboom due to a disagreement with her partner. Her witty style has drawn in many loyal viewers and it’ll be interesting to see how things will play out. We’re sure Andrew will take Rocketboom in an interesting and entertaining new direction and we look forward to continuing to work together.

As for Amanda, there are already offers from around the blogosphere, notably from Jason Calacanis over at Netscape.

“So, my offer to you is do your daily report for Netscape and we’ll pay you whatever you need to get paid AND you can own all of the rights to your video forever”

With all the recent hype, traditional media companies might be interested in signing her, but we secretly wish she will stay in the world of indie video blogging.

Here’s her “exit video”. She promises she’ll be back and will post some new stuff on her unboomed site.